An estimated 300 youngsters from this country are given trials in Britain each year and, of those, between 20 and 30 might sign for clubs. For almost every youngster, the first point of contact with the British club will be a local scout who has seen them in a junior game.
While most of the big clubs in Britain - the 20 in the Premiership, the bigger ones in the First Division and the big two in Scotland - have somebody working for them here, there are many others, such as managers of youth teams and retired administrators and players, who have informal links with a club or a more established scout.
The financial arrangements involved are many and varied, with some scouts being paid out-of-pocket expenses, others a retainer and most benefiting over time if they uncover a youngster who goes on to become a major star. For many, the prestige within the game of being a major club's representative in Ireland would be considered a significant reward.
With the greatly increased competition for youngsters, a growing number of clubs are establishing more concrete links with schoolboy clubs in this country. Cherry Orchard in Dublin, for example, currently receives around £50,000 each year in equipment, gear and cash as well as training for coaches and other assistance from Manchester City. In theory, this gives the English club better access to Cherry Orchard's best young players, but with the youngsters free to choose where they go, the reality is that the support is an attempt to build loyalty and improve the image of the club here.
The signing of youngsters is strictly regulated. Boys can not sign for a club until they are 14 and may not join up with a British club until they are 16, while parents are not supposed to be offered any inducements. Occasionally, some abuses do come to light and a proposal to ban international transfers involving minors is currently being discussed between the football authorities and the European Commission. Similarly, the integrity of some scouts has in the past been questioned. For example, Eoin Hand, the former Republic of Ireland manager, who now works as a careers guidance adviser with the Football Association of Ireland, has cited cases of parents being asked for substantial payments in return for their sons being taken on virtually worthless blind trials at lower division clubs.
"The vast majority of lads doing this sort of work are good people," Hand says. "But there is a lot of money involved in football these days and so there is always the danger that the wrong sort of person will get involved.
"Already, there is a good deal of self-regulation coming in with the clubs themselves, but ultimately I think that a tighter licensing system would be good for everybody concerned."
